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A lot or a little?

The parents' guide to what's in this game.

Positive Messages

Sticking up for what's right, for others, at great risk to your own personal safety. Although noble, law is broken, bent in that pursuit repeatedly.

Positive Role Models & Representations

Ben does some heroic things, tries to save a company, clear his name, but his methods are questionable, he's still an outlaw.

Ease of Play

Short game, with only a few frustrating puzzles.

Violence

Road rage, murder, torture all shown but range from cartoony to camera cutting away just as things are about to get particularly grisly, bloody.

Sex

Language

Most profanity is in commentary; words like "a--hole."

Consumerism

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Player hangs out in bars, talks to other people drinking beer.

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Full Throttle Remastered is an downloadable version of the 1995 game with updated graphics and sound, improved controls, and developer commentary featuring the game's original creators. Although you play as a big tough biker, the game still centers on solving puzzles and occasionally some vehicular violence. Also, while there are moments of road rage, torture, and murder, the camera moves away before bloody content is shown, and the cartoonish visuals limit the impact. Some scenes take place in a bar, with patrons drinking beer, and there's some profanity, mainly in the newly added commentary.

What's it about?

FULL THROTTLE REMASTERED is a rerelease of a 1995 point-and-click adventure game. In it, you play Ben Throttle, the leader of the biker gang known as the Polecats. One day, Ben gets framed for the murder of the head of Corley Motors. In one fell swoop, you have to figure out how to clear your name, make the public aware of what's really going on, and prevent a hostile takeover of the company. On his journey, Ben encounters rival gangs and must convince as many of them as they can that they'll need to team up and confront the man who is trying to ruin his reputation as well as biking. The remastered version comes with newly drawn visuals and remastered audio, as well as developer commentary about the game.

Is it any good?

This adventure game is fun to play, but many of the same issues from the original release are present in the remastered version. Full Throttle was always one of the odder and more intriguing outings for LucasArts. This faithful rerelease two decades later doesn't change that, and players new to the game won't have nostalgia to potentially cloud some of the game's clunkier aspects. A few of the puzzles seem designed to make people call hint lines or seek out hint books, and indeed, in the commentary, some of the creators apologize for the needlessly coy puzzles. The game's later sections that attempt to inject some action into the flow -- road rage brawls, a demolition derby -- still feel as undercooked today as they did 20 years ago.

None of that should prevent people from trying it. It's an atypical take on a seemingly "tough" world -- you play a 200-pound biker who walks around solving puzzles. Also, 20 years later, it's hard not to feel that the game is shorter than it deserves to be. That's a subjective complaint, but one frequently levied one against this game. It's perfectly suited for pick-up/put-down play on a handheld, but it's unusual to be able to finish an adventure game in a weekend if you're really determined. Indeed, in the commentary, the developers confess that "too much" was taken out of the game. But as it stands, what's here is worth seeing and trying.

Talk to your kids about ...

Families can talk about why there is so much nostalgia in seemingly every medium. Do you think this is surprising? Has there always been this much nostalgia, even going back centuries and millennia?

Why do people become bikers? Why do people rebel against the status quo? How do people who rebel against the status quo indirectly help or provide some benefit to those who adhere to it? What about vice versa?

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